Make Flattened Penny Charms

29 August 2012

Treasures can be “objects found.”

Make a string of Summer memories with objects found throughout your vacation. Sone call this junk, some call these small keepsakes, treasures and I think it’s often the matter of perspective. I do think small stones, sea shells, sea glass hold memories. I have a collection of these treasures kept in small glass bottles but, I also wanted to come up with an activity for us to do with those summer memories.

28

We taped our pennies to the track* and returned the next day to see the results.

This project started as a part of a daily ritual. Most days, this past summer, we headed to the community library | here | and then, placed pennies on a train track.*  Even though we visited some spectacular destinations, this, every day destination was the heart of so many special moments.  I loved our bike rides, bike races, the walks, the talks and the quiet ritual — days with enough time for experimentation. The following day, we would return to see our finds. The results were much more varied than we expected.

– Can you see the indentation on the  kronor below?  This happened when we stacked a penny on top of a kronor.

– Another surprise, one day, we laid pennies on the track in 105 F heat. When we returned the next day to see, we saw that our coins had actually melted into the train track. We could just see a faint image melted into the track!
– Another keeper: a fishing lure: In addition to pebbles and a pendant or two,  our boys went on a huge Canadian Fishing trip adventure with my Father.   It was also a big swim, wilderness adventure with a passing of the torch, tradition being shared with our boys.  Rummaging through their luggage afterwards, I found this lure that was still unused.  I just clipped off the hook and saved it for this project.
Do you have any small treasure that are just laying around and you’re not quite sure what to do with them, either? Maybe you have something  you’ve over looked. Take a look — even through pockets and see what treasure you, too, might have to make a Back Pack Bobble or turn into Charms.
charming-charms

Charm Bracelet with personalised charms

How to make a flattened penny charm *

–  With jewellery awl, punch hole in top of coin with metal hole punch tool.
–  Add jewellery clasp and it’s ready to attach to whatever you wish!
Charming memories that can now be charms!

As always, I’d love to see what you do! Willowday Wishes.

(* Note:  Never, ever, ever, do this with out a parent and please note that we did this is a very rural area without high traffic! We knew the train schedule and worked around this with caution.  Flattening pennies just might not work for everyone. We don’t do this in Stockholm. However, we had a small town, with a regular schedule and a large open bed with high visibility!! We looked, double looked and looked again before setting our pennies on the trails and never, ever did this at a time that trains were schedules — however, we ALWAYS checked and listened. I do not recumbent doing this unless you have a track that’s safe and your children can be assisted by an adult. Don’t go near the track when trains are visible. A PERFCT alternative are the souvenir coins that one can get at almost all amusement parks. Do you know these machines that flatten pennies? These can be used exactly the same! We are sharing our very personal experience here, making pennies ourselves, in a safe environment but you don’t have to — use these machine made pennies! It’s a perfect way to extend the fun.)

Something you might like:
Heart Pompom — why not add one (not pictured, just click)
Travel Journals
Luggage Tags
Felt Flowers

aug29somethig
SHARE THIS STORY
COMMENTS
EXPAND
ADD A COMMENT